Black Christian News Network | Wordpress Edition

Don Baylor played for six teams over 19 seasons in the majors, winning an MVP award and a World Series title. Getty Images

Don Baylor, the 1979 American League MVP, died Monday of cancer. He was 68.

“Don passed from this earth with the same fierce dignity with which he played the game and lived his life,” his wife, Rebecca, said in a statement.

He died Monday at a hospital in Austin, Texas, his son, Don Baylor Jr., told the Austin American-Statesman.

Baylor played for the Orioles, Athletics, Angels, Yankees, Red Sox and Twins over a 19-year career. He was an All-Star and the MVP winner with the Angels in 1979, when he led the majors in RBIs and runs and also set career highs in home runs and hits.

He reached the World Series three straight times at the end of his career from 1986 to 1988 and won the title with the Twins in 1987.

Baylor batted .260 with 338 home runs and 1,276 RBIs in his career. He led the majors seven times in being hit by pitches during a season, including taking 35 of them in 1986 with the Red Sox. He drew 267 HBPs in his career.

MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark issued a statement Monday on the deaths of Baylor and Darren Daulton, the former Philadelphia Phillies All-Star who died Sunday at the age of 55.